Unit ventilator construction



April 7, 1970 E. R. MERKLIN ET A1. 3,504,617

UNIT VENTILATOR CONSTRUCTION Filed March 6, 1968 80 me i, M2

M5 INVENTOR8. Eon/42o P. Mean/1v H0 BY Owvma/ZSm/uflW H4 RNA/es 525740 JOHN M n United States Patent O 3,504,617 UNIT VENTILATOR CONSTRUCTION Edward Robert Merklin and Donald Ray Schuster, Co-

lumbus, Ohio, assignors to American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 6, 1968, Ser. No. 710,806 Int. Cl. F24f 7/00; F24h 3/08 U.S. Cl. 9833 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a unit ventilator comprising an upright housing containing one or more fans for developing an upwardly flowing air stream which exits through a discharge grille in the housing top wall, and a heat exchange coil in the upper portion of the housing arranged to be contacted by the air stream as it flows toward the discharge grille.

Features of the housing structure are the removable nature of certain housing panels for complete access to the housing interior, construction of the front panel assembly as two or more separate panels paintable in contrasting colors for ornamentation purposes, and formation of the front panels with semi-concealed fastener devices for better protection against tampering by children.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a transverse sectional view taken through one embodiment of the invention, certain panels thereof being additionally shown in phantom positions detached from the housing.

FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are enlarged fragmentary views of different portions of the FIG. 1 embodiment.

GENERAL ARRANGEMENT Arranged above the two air filters is a roll type proportioning damper 27 of arcuate configuration carried on two sector-like arms 28, only one of which is visible in the drawing; a reinforcing plate 29 may be connected between the two sector arms to minimize twist of the damper assembly. Each sector arm is located adjacent an end wall of the defined air passage, and is connected with a stub shaft 30 going through suitable bearings in the passage end wall to mount the damper for arcuate movement about the stuby shaft axis. A damper-actuating motor (electric or pneumatic) located outside the air stream may be thermostatically controlled to move the roll damper 27 to various adjusted positions apportioning the flow through filters 24 and 26. The arcuate damper is provided with a front edge 31 and a rear edge 33, said edges cooperating with elongated fixed baflles 32 and 34 to provide flow passages of inversely-varying dimensions. A fixed separator 35 precludes any by-passage of air from one inlet to the other.

Located above damper 27 are one or more centrifugal fan housings 40, only one of which is visible. Each housing 40 contains a centrifugal fan wheel 42 carried on a common drive shaft 44 arranged to be rotated by an electric motor located in a non-illustrated end compartment outside the air stream. The various fan housings 40 are individually suspended from a horizontal deck plate 48 having a lull length rear flange 50, and a full length front flange 52, said deck plate extending across the entire air passage in the space between front wall 14 and the false rear wall 54. The space below deck plate 48 forms an inlet chamber 56, and the space thereabove forms an out let chamber 58.

Air discharged through each fan outlet 60 moves to- Ward the discharge grille 62 in the top wall 16. This air can take either or both of two paths depending on the position of a control damper 64. In the full line position of the damper all of the air flows through a finned heat exchange coil 66 extending across the air passageway. In the dotted line position 64a all of the air flows through a bypass passageway 68 formed between the front face of the damper and the rear face of the housing front wall.

The damper is carried by a horizontal pivot shaft 70 which may be rotated by a thermostatically controlled motor (not shown), the arrangement being such that the damper provides different treated air-bypass air ratios, hence different discharge temperatures. Any condensate formed on the coil fin surfaces will be collected in a removable drain pan 72 extending across the air passageway. A rubber sealing strip 63 may be carried on the front wall of the pan to engage the tip of damper 64 when it assumes its dotted line position. Forward dislocation of the pan may be prevented by suitable front-torear strips 65 secured to deck 48 where they will not interfere with upward flow of air through discharge openings 60.

Hot or cold water may be supplied to and remove from coil 66 via non-illustrated branch pipes coming out of the two horizontal pipes 73 located behind false wall 54. As shown, the lower edge of wall 54 turns rearwardly to form a false bottom wall 55, while the upper edge of back wall 12 turns forwardly to form a false top wall 57, the various walls being welded together along their full lengths to form a pipe raceway designated by numeral 59. The box cross sectional nature of the raceway enables it to reinforce the ventilator housing for the entire lateral width of the housing (normal to the plane of the paper).

HOUSING SUPPORT FRAMEWORK The supporting framework comprises a pair of nonillustrated laterally spaced upright bulkheads paralleling the plane of the paper. These bulkheads are spaced inwardly a short distance from each end of the unit ventilator housing to form two relatively narrow end compartments and one relatively wide central compartment, said central compartment forming the illustrated air passageway through the unit ventilator. In an illustrative housing structure each end compartment might be on the order of twelve inches wide and the central compartment (air passageway) might be on the Order of seventy-eight inches wide, making a total housing width of one hundred-two inches. This unit ventilator housing would have a height of about thirty inches and a front-to-rear depth of about fifteen inches.

The housing support framework includes a lower front channel-shaped frame element 76, an upper front channel-shaped frame element 78, and an upper rear channel-shaped frame element 80. Each of elements 76, 78 and 80 extends the full lateral Width of the housing, e.g. one hundred two inches, for adequate support of the housing top wall 16 and front wall 14. The forementioned bulkheads interconnect the three frame elements to form a rigid framework on which to hang the housing panels and interior components.

3 HOUSING PANEL CONSTRUCTION The housing top wall 16 comprises a peripherally flanged sheet metal panel 91 having a front portion resting on surface 101 of frame element 78 and a rear portion resting on frame element 80. The rear portion of the panel is formed with two or more slot openings 83 for accommodating the upwardly projecting retainer elements 99 affixed to frame element 80, as by screws 81.

The front edge portion of panel 91 comprises a downwardly turned flange portion 100 and a rearwardly turned lip portion 102. This configuration reinforces the forward edge of the panel and also causes the raw edge of the panel to be concealed, thus preventing small children from cutting their fingers on the raw edge surface. Extending above lip 102 is a forwardly projecting flange 104 formed on an elongated channel-shaped hanger element 106. Suitable screws 108 may be extended upwardly through openings in lip 102 and flange 104 to secure panel 91 in its illustrated position. The top panel may be removed by first loosening or removing screws 108 and then drawing the panel forwardly in the arrow 109 direction (FIG. 1). During this movement the surface of each slot 83 rides along the upper surface of the forwardly extending portion of bracket 99. Panel 91 can be completely removed from the ventilator housing, or alternately the panel can be tilted back to an upright position generally paralleling the room wall or window area; in this event retainer elements 99 serve as hinges.

As previously noted, the front of the housing is closed by a removable front panel structure 14. This structure comprises an upper wall panel 110, a lower wall panel 112, and an interconnecting molding strip 122. Strip 122 is rigidly connected with panel 112 so that it and the panel are removable from the housing as a unit.

As shown in FIG. 5, molding strip 122 has a plurality of studs 150 welded to its rear face, said studs going through openings in the upper edge of panel 112 and having nuts 152 threaded thereon for semi-permanent securement of the molding strip to the panel. The molding strip is formed separately from the panel to permit the two members to be painted different contrasting colors without expensive masking procedures. The molding strip may also give some longitudinal stiffness to the panel upper edge when formed separately; ie it produces a miniature box section as viewed in FIG. 5.

Each of members 110, 112 and 122 extends the full width of the housing so as to constitute the visible frontal area exposed to the room. Panel 110 may be formed as an aluminum extrusion of constant cross section throughout its length. Its upper portion defines a rearwardly facing groove 114 which fits over an upwardlyoutwardly extending flange 115 on hanger element 106; element 106 preferably extends the full width of the housing for proper support and alignment of panel 110. The lower portion of panel 110 includes a forwardly projecting rib 117 and a concealed flange 119 therebelow. As shown in FIG. 4, flange 119 seats within or behind the molding strip 122 to preclude removal of panel 110 except after first removing the molding striplower panel assembly.

In the event that panel 110 is formed with a relatively thin cross section it may tend to bend or buckle in the areas midway of its ends. To prevent this there is provided a removable brace plate 130 of generally triangular outline. Said plate extends in a front-to-rear plane below a channel frame element 131 which is welded at its ends to frame 78 and wall 57. The front edge of brace plate 130 is turned laterally to form a flange 132 abutting but not secured to :panel 110. The upper edge of plate 130 is turned laterally to form a flange 133, suitable fingers 134 then being struck out of the flange to key into openings in the light portion of channel 131. Installation of the brace plate is accomplished by removing same up against channel 131 and then sliding same rearwardly so that fingers 134 key over the channel surface.

Lower front panel 112 is peripherally flanged (all four edges), and has Welded thereto at its lower edge two or three laterally spaced hinge brackets 123, only one of which is visible in the drawings. Each bracket 123 projects through a slot opening 113 in channel 76 whereby to support the panel 112 weight. It will be seen that the .panel can be tilted about the bracket support axis and then removed by an upward motion in the arrow direction. The panel is preferably provided with mat-type sound absorption material 109 on its rear face.

Retention of panel 112 can be accomplished by two fasteners 154 extending through or adjacent flanges 107 formed at the front edges of the aformentioned bulkheads. In FIG. 4 one of these bulkheads (or side walls) is designated by numeral 124. As previously mentioned, these bulkheads are spaced laterally of one another to define the end walls of the air passage. Each fastener 154 may comprise a bolt 155 extending through wall portion 156 of panel 112, a nut 158 threaded onto the bolt, a torsion spring 160 having its rear convolution going through a transverse hole in the bolt, and a cam disc 162 disposed on the bolt and being connected with the front convolution of the spring. The general arrangement is such that by inserting a screw driver through an opening 164 in strip 122 it is possible to turn the bolt and thereby rotate the cam disc so that a portion of the disc lies behind the stationary bulkhead flange 107. Reverse rotation of the bolt unlocks the fastener to allow hingelike removal of panel 112 for access to the fan motor, and other controls.

Top panel 91 can be removed after first loosening screws 108; the openings in wall portion 102 are preferably slots extending from the wall rear edge so that when the screws are merely loosened it is possible to slide panel 91 forwardly in the arrow 109 direction. Preferably the spacing and orientation of screws 108 with reference to the upper edge of panel 110 are such that screws 108 cannot be readily disconnected or loosened until panel 110 is first removed. This is to lessen the likelihood of tampering by small children, as by requiring a specific sequence of operations to effect the panel removal process.

It will be noted that after removal of panels 112, 110 and 91 the entire housing interior is exposed for adjusting damper 64, cleaning the coil fins, removal of fan deck 48 and other maintenance operations.

CONTEMPLATED ENVIRONMENT It is contemplated that this unit ventilator will be used primarily in school rooms, preferably along the exterior room wall beneath the glass areas. In such installations one or more fan coil units will be interpersed with book shelf units, and drawer-cabinet combination units. These auxiliary units will be the same height and depth as the unit ventilators so that the top and front surfaces of all units will align with one another as substantially continuous unbroken surfaces.

Frontal edge portion 100 is intended to align with the upper front edge on the companion shelf and drawercabinet units. Panel 110 is intended to simulate a modernistic drawer front; for this reason rib 117 is contoured as a modernistic simulated drawer pull or handle. When the unit ventilator is positioned alongside a suitably dimensioned drawer-cabinet unit panel 110 will form a continuation of the horizontal profile of the drawer, thereby giving a modernistic ornamental styling eifect.

Molding strip 122 is intended to line up with the front edge of an adjacent shelf or horizontal partition forming part of a suitably dimensioned Shelf or drawer-cabinet unit. Panels 110 and 112 are preferably finished in different colors, with panel 110 being lighter in tone than panel 112. Thus, panel 110 can be White, yellow or aluminum finish, white panel 112 can be a darper color Such as blue, red, green, etc, Molding strip 122 and hanger strip 106 are preferably black to provide heightened contrast between the other two panels when their own colors are not sufficient, for that purpose.

It would be possible to form panel 110, strip 122, and panel 112 s a single panel element, as under conventional practice. However it would then be difficult to achieve the curvatures at the upper and lower edges of panel 110, or the visual separateness of the different panel areas. It would also be difficult to paint the different panel areas with the different required colors, since masking procedures would then be necessary. Sectioning or dividing the panels into separate panel members as discussed above tends to overcome these problems in that it pro vides contrasting finishes and contour detail not achievable using a single front panel concept.

It is claimed:

1. An upright unit ventilator comprising a concealed supporting framework comprised of a transverse upper rear frame element, a transverse upper front frame element, and a transverse lower front frame element; a horizontal top panel spanning the space between the upper frame elements; means forming an air discharge grille in said top panel; fan means within the unit ventilator for developing an upwardly flowing air stream exiting through the discharge grille; the front edge portion of said top panel including a flange portion extending downwardly in front of the upper front frame element and a lip portion extending rearwardly from the flange portion to define a smooth non-jagged frontal edge surface for the top panel; a semi-concealed panel hanger means carried by the upper front frame element; an upper front panel suspended from the hanger means below the aforementioned front edge portion of the top panel; a lower front panel having its lower edge portion supported by the lower front frame element; and fastener means arranged to releasably retain the front panels against the concealed framework; said front panels being disp'laceable from their mounted positions to provide free access to the space therebehind.

2. The unit ventilator of claim 1 wherein the supporting framework includes two upright bulkheads extending rearwardly from the front frame elements adjacent their opposite ends, the space between said bulkheads constituting the air flow passageway through the ventilator; the aforementioned fastener means including separate fastener devices engageable with respective ones of the bulkheads adjacent their front edges.

3. The unit ventilator of claim 1 wherein the upper front frame element provides an upwardly facing flat surface engageable with the underface of the top panel, and a forwardly facing flat surface operable to mount the hanger means.

4. The unit ventilator of claim 3 wherein the hanger means comprises a vertical mounting portion secured flatwise against the forwardly facing surface of the upper front frame element, a forwardly extending flange portion overlying the lip portion of the top panel, and an upwardly-forwardly inclined hook portion operable to suspendably support the upper front panel.

5. The unit ventilator .of claim 1 wherein the upper rear frame element provides an upwardly facing flat surface; said top panel having its rear edge portion extending downwardly and then forwardly to define a lip; said top panel having longitudinally spaced slots formed in said lip; said upper rear frame element having upwardly and forwardly extending retainer elements going through respective ones .of the slots to preclude direct upward displacement of the top panel.

6. The unit ventilator of claim 5 wherein the slots extend into the downwardly extending portions of the top panel to define slot edges which ride along the upper faces of the retainer elements when the top panel is drawn forwardly from its installed position.

7. The unit ventilator of claim 1 and further comprising a horizontal molding strip carried on the upper edge portion of the lower front panel, said molding strip overlying and spanning the joint formed between the adjacent edges of the upper front panel and lower front panel, whereby the molding strip retains the upper front panel in posi tion on the framework.

8. The unit ventilator of claim 7 wherein the supporting framework includes two upright bulkheads extending rearwardly from the front frame elements inwardly of their opposite ends, the space between said bulkheads constituting the air flow passageway through the ventilator; the aforementioned fastener means further comprising separate fastener devices connected between the lower front panel and respective ones of the upright bulkheads; said fastener devices being located in the space behind the molding strip.

9. The unit ventilator of claim 7 wherein the molding strip is of channel cross section, said strip having its upper and lower edges turned rearwardly to engage the upper and lower front panels; the upper edge portion of the lower front panel being recessed to accommodate the molding strip.

10. The unit ventilator of claim 1 wherein the concealed framework comprises a horizontal reinforcement bar extending rearwardly from an intermediate point on the upper front frame element, the combination further comprising a brace depending from said reinforcement bar in releasable abutting engagement with the upper front panel to oppose inward deflection thereof; said brace having a releasable connection with the reinforcement bar.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,697,921 12/1954 Brugler 62-426 2,899,803 8/1959 Paley 62426 3,146,044 8/1964 Sacks 312-313 3,254,929 6/ 1966 Allender 62426 a MEYER PERLIN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 62426; 9894; 12 2 

